Alaska Airlines

ANC-SFO-PSP-ANC First Class. Flight attendants do not serve first class like first class. It's more like you're time warped back into what Coach used to be like. Drinks on offer before takeoff - tepid water poured out of an open common bottle into a plastic cup. Service after takeoff indifferent. Food not great. Interestingly if you request an alcoholic drink they bring you two mini-bottles of the alcohol but don't bring you the can of tonic/soda/whatever that goes with it so you can mix it yourself. Planes are exceedingly loud with announcements from FAs but if the pilot speaks you can't hear a word. Between that and the thin rocky seats make sure you pack your ibuprofen.

My family and I were scheduled to traveled from DC to Seattle this week but we accidentally went to the wrong airport. Our mistake completely however you would have never guessed that considering the way the ground crew treated us. They immediately got us rescheduled on another flight to LA and on again to Seattle. They made sure we had our seats together as much as possible and were as hospitable as could possibly be. I've always felt that our prior experiences on Alaska Air were always good but I was truly impressed with their service on this last trip. I am certain that we would not have had such luck on any other airline. I want to thank Alaska Air for making a possible bad situation a positive and comfortable day for us.

I've had to fly Alaska almost every Monday morning and Thursday evening for the past 2.5 months from Seattle to Oakland because of a project I was on. Their miles plan is quite generous and I will continue to book with them. Consistently good things about Alaska are their customer service quality (always respectful and accommodating) and on-time flight status (not one single late flight with the exception of a bomb threat which isn't their fault). Consistent areas for improvement with Alaska are their seat comfort (the adjustable headrests are good on the larger planes but the smaller ones lack them and the seat bottoms across are painfully hard across the board - a 1.5 hour flight should not have me in physical pain at the end of it) their wi-fi offerings (there is no way I am paying $10 for slow internet access for 1.5 hours; that's absurd) and their MVP Gold status is so heavily overloaded now that it seems like the majority of the flight is boarded early by them rather than normal flyers (they need to consider revising how these points are earned and applied). Overall I have enjoyed them however and I will continue to use them for my return flights now that my weekly commute has moved to a Seattle-to-Houston trip (there are no nonstop flights going to Houston on Sunday afternoons with Alaska or its partner airlines so I'll have to get there using Continental and come back on Alaska which is fine).

I flew 6 hrs from Seattle to Kona on a full flight. The only toilets for economy were at the back of the plane. Being only one narrow aisle there was continual crowding and congestion up the aisle near the toilets. It was particularly bad for passengers in the back rows because they had people in the aisle crowding them the whole flight. We were not allowed to use the first class facilities at the front even though a couple of people did go through. An other annoyance was the frequency and volume of announcements. Please let us have some peace and quiet! We noticed the contrast with Hawaiian Airlines which was so tranquil and relaxing with no loud publicity of special deals and unnecessary announcements of impending drinks trolley.

SEA-MIA. I had the misfortune of missing my flight the night before (my fault). I ended up flying out the next morning on my birthday my travel partner mentioned to the FAs that it was my birthday. They went out of their way and made me feel quite special. The FA asked me if I liked sweet or sour and soon came back with a special drink which he'd put dry ice in to make it bubbly! Then later they lent me a complimentary movie player. They were small gestures but really made my day. The service was great.

On return flight from Maui we sat in the first row behind 1st class. My wife needed to use the restroom and must use a crutch to walk so she went forward to 1st class. I went to the back but was blocked by 10 people in line who were blocked by the serving cart so I returned to the front. My wife had returned to her seat and another lady was going through the door so I waited. Then a lady attendant seeing me waiting told me I must go to the rear. I explained that the aisle was blocked by the serving cart she insisted I go back which I did. After the long wait on the serving cart I finally reached the restroom. When I returned to my seat the man in the aisle next to me asked why I went back. He said while I was gone 3 people had passed him and used the front bath room without any harassment. I realized that this restroom is intended for First Class but at the same time a little reasonable attitude and common sense by the attendant would be appreciated.

San Diego to Seattle return. The overall trip was excellent. The crew were nice and gave me a free extra snack. My carry-on was 2 inches larger than the maximum but the gate agent offered to consider it check-in luggage for no extra cost. Only negative point is that both landings were hard especially at San Diego.

Burbank CA to Seattle WA. My mother is quite elderly staff were very courteous from the moment she exited the car. She was supplied with a wheelchair with and pushed by a staff member to both the ticket counter and security without waiting and then helped onto the plane. The trip went without a hitch.

Flew nonstop Oakland to Kona. Its a much smaller plane than Hawaiian or United for example but seat size is the same. However there are no movies and music they will rent you small hand held pads. They only use one food cart in coach so if you are at the back you will wait over 1 hr after service starts. Food is reasonably priced. Staff are nice and helpful if you know what to expect its fine.

The airline did got us to the destination however they re-assigned our seats upon check-in - to the lavatory row. I paid full fair for these tickets and spent 6.5 hrs with people standing next to us. When I asked to have my family back in their original seats I was told there was an equipment change. Apparently the computer runs the airline. The computer reassigned the seats and there is nothing a human can do to rectify the situation.